Justice for Dogs Neglected at Ohio Dog Pound

We have written about this before also, but it needs some more attention. Read up and if you haven't signed up to make a difference please do so now.

You can't call the Harrison County Dog Pound in Cadiz, Ohio a "shelter." For one thing, it doesn't have exterior walls. (In case you're wondering, it's about 27 degrees Fahrenheit in Cadiz today, with a prediction of snow showers later tonight.) They can't even use water to clean the cages for fear of ice, and the dogs suffer from frostbite.

If this was a facility just doing its best to get by in a small, poverty-stricken town, that would be bad enough. But this place also doesn't meet the definition of shelter as a place of refuge. The conditions are appalling. Water bowls are left to freeze over, kennels are left filthy, the deadly parvovirus runs rampant and the animals apparently don't receive vet care. Stacy Skinner, a volunteer, told a local news station that the county wants her banned from the pound for trying to help the animals.

In September, the Ohio SPCA filed a lawsuit against county commissioners and former dog wardens for operating a substandard facility. The lawsuit alleges that not only are the conditions unsanitary and inhumane, but the facility isn't open enough for people to adopt or claim lost dogs.

Help the animals of Harrison County and the activists who are fighting for them by calling on the County Prosecutor and the Attorney General to investigate the dog pound and the county commissioners running it, and to prosecute those found responsible for the neglect to the full extent of the law.

Sign the petition:

http://animals.change.org/blog/view/dogs_left_out_in_the_cold_by_harrison_county_officials?me=nl

Justice for Dogs Neglected at Ohio Dog Pound

Although local activists and residents have been reporting neglect at the Harrison County Dog Pound in Cardiz, Ohio since at least 2008, it is only recently that the appalling conditions at the facility started to receive national attention.

News footage and photos show filthy kennels and a facility with no exterior walls to protect animals from the freezing Ohio winter. Dogs suffer from frostbite and from diseases like the deadly parvovirus, and they don't get vet care.

The county's solution to the news coverage was to euthanize the dogs; ten animals were saved only by the intervention of the national media and out-of-state advocates, including Alyssa Milano and The Gentle Barn sanctuary.

Despite years of complaints, there has been no action from local officials.

Help the animals of Harrison County and the residents trying to save them by calling on the County Prosecutor and the Attorney General to stop the suffering and prosecute those responsible to the full extent of the law.

This is the petition...please take out a minute & sign it. Thank you!

http://animals.change.org/petitions/view/justice_for_dogs_neglected_at_ohio_dog_pound

Bullied Teens Dead

I read this sad piece on msn updates. It was about this teenage girl in Ohio, Sladjana Vidovic who was bullied at school so badly that eventually she ended up committing suicide in 2008. She hung herself to death by jumping off outside her bedroom window and tying the rope against the bed post. Her sister and family saw her hanging there dead. And obviously their lives have never remained the same since then.

She was 16. Apparently, the family had shifted from Croatia. The bullies at Mentor High School made fun of her accent, called her Slutty Jana or Slut-Jana-Vagina, threw food at her. In her time at Mentor High School, she was pushed off the stairs by a boy, smacked on the face by a bottle, received calls that she would wake up dead in the morning, told they will see her after school and much more.

Her friend at school said, she did use to stand up but eventually lost strength of fighting back with the non stop insults. Her parents complained to the management at school but nothing happened. They could not control the bullies. In fact, two years after her death, they have no records of complaints and they claim they lost track due to change in hardware.

Her sister remembers how the bitchy bullies came to her casket and laughed at how she looked even after she had died.

However, this was not the first incident. 4 teens had committed suicided at Mentor High School due to the on going, un-monitored bullies. Another boy, Eric Mohat was bullied and constant told that he was gay. He too committed suicide.

These two families are filing a case against the school. They have suffered and their kids suffered even more. I hope they get justice for their kids. Such incidents are very common. Bullies are out there all the time every where. Imagine how these sucky bullies will turn out to be as adults. Very dirty scoundrels.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39578548/ns/health-kids_and_parenting?GT1=43001